David Novak - The Education of an Accidental CEO: My Journey from the Trailer Park to the Corner Office

CONTENTS

TO MY WIFE, WENDY,
my best friend, my partner, and the love of my life

INTRODUCTION

You Never Know What Youre Capable Of

W hen I first said to my wife, Wendy, that I was thinking about writing a book, she asked mepartially in jest, I hopewhy anyone would want to read a book about a CEO they had probably never heard of. That question stopped me in my tracks and got me thinking about what I have to say that might be useful to anyone.

As the CEO of Yum! Brands, the biggest restaurant company in the world and home to KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silvers, and A&W All American Food, there are any number of extraordinary experiences that could have popped into my head. But what jumped out at me that day was a trip I took a few years back to Washington, D.C., for the opening of a KFC in one of D.C.s toughest neighborhoods.

As I watched our team working together, I marveled at the motivation and the attitude that made the launch so successful. But that was nothing compared to the surprise visit I made to the same store seven months later. Sales were up, the atmosphere was full of energy, and the customer service was as good or better than it had been on opening day. I asked a team member how she had managed to sustain so much positive energy in such a tough environment, and she said something that Ill never forget: You know, you never know what youre capable of.

That one experience pretty much sums up my message in this book, and, to a large extent, my career. Fortunately, I never totally knew what I was capable of as I broke through barriers and rose up through the ranks to become CEO of a nearly one-million-employee company, Yum! Brands, at the age of forty-six.

While my rapid rise to the top might suggest that I had some master plan, brilliantly conceived and impeccably executed, nothing could be further from the truth. This is why I often describe my career as accidentalmore a matter of the paths not taken than the paths that wereyet while always pushing the boundaries and taking advantage of opportunities that happened to come my way.

My early education was far from typical when you consider that I grew up in a series of trailer parks and was constantly moving around. Then, rather than major in business, I enrolled in the journalism school at the University of Missouri.

After graduation, the career accidents started to happen right away. I took a job as a $7,200-a-year advertising copywriter with ambitions of one day becoming a creative director. Instead, I became an account executive. I chose a career in advertising with the hopes of working for one of the big New York agencies. Instead, I ended up in Dallas, Texas. I took a job managing an account for Frito-Lay with the idea of learning the packaged-foods business. Instead, I ended up working for Pizza Hut, which I liked so much I assumed I would spend the rest of my career in the restaurant business. But then I was offered the incredible experience of becoming head of marketing (and later the chief operating officer) of the beverage division of PepsiCo, one of the best-run companies in the world. Then almost out of nowhere, I was back in the restaurant business again, but this time as president of Pepsi-owned KFC and later of both KFC and Pizza Hut.

Finally, just as I began to consider myself a PepsiCo lifer, I learned the restaurant division was going to be spun off and that I might have a shot at becoming the CEO of this new public company. Admittedly, this last move was no accident. In fact, in my aggressive pursuit of the position, I almost got myself fired, but thats a story for later in the book.

I guess you could say that while I didnt always know where I was going, Im delighted at where I ended up. Its been an amazing journey and along the way Ive had some extraordinary learning opportunities.

How many people, for instance, get to be coached by one of the worlds top image consultantsone of his other clients was Johnny Carsonadmittedly, for the purpose of adding a little polish? Or learn to overcome the jitters from a professional public speaking coach? How many people get to benefit from a little one-on-one guidance from the likes of Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, and John Wooden? Or get to visit some of the worlds greatest companies to observe their best practices firsthand? Or have the opportunity to serve on the board of one of the worlds biggest banks?

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but these are the kinds of experiences I have been lucky enough to have. By sharing with you what Ive learned from them, maybe there is something that will help accelerate your own learning curve.

Because I never had a formal business education, a lot of what Ive learned may also be unconventional and was often self-taught. Though Ive had some amazing teachers (virtually every boss Ive had went on to run a big company), Ive also had to learn by doing and, more often than Id like to admit, learn by failing. Failure is a great teacher and I have been its student on more than one occasion.

Do you, for instance, remember Crystal Pepsi, the clear Pepsi? It was my idea during my stint as head of marketing for Pepsi and it was supposed to be my career maker, my big new product breakthrough. That didnt happen. In fact Time magazine called it one of the worst new product ideas of the twentieth century. But it did lead to a better understanding of the importance of listening, especially when people are trying to warn me that Im about to drive off a cliff. (I still think Crystal Pepsi would have worked if Id only been more open to criticism, but I guess well never know.)

While PepsiCo served as my business school, when Yum! Brands was spun off on October 7, 1997, I got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new culture from scratch, to lead others in building a public company, and to travel the world as we turned Yum! Brands into a global powerhouse.

Perhaps the one thing I am most proud of is that we are now benchmarked by other companies for what we do in terms of rewarding and recognizing our own people. In the photograph on the back cover of this book I am holding some of my recognition awards and, as you can see, I try to add an element of fun to go along with a monetary award. In fact, I very much believe that creating a sense of fun and keeping up everyones energy level is part of my job description.

I also got the opportunity to start giving back, to begin to share what I had learned with others. This is when I first began to teach a leadership program of my own devising called Taking People with You to a wide variety of people at Yum! Brands, from first-time supervisors to senior executives. I have now given this seminar almost fifty times to approximately 2,500 of our employees.

What I have discovered as a result is how much I love to teach. In many ways I see myself as the Everyman CEO, and frankly, this stuff isnt rocket science. But because Ive experienced it firsthand, I believe that legitimacy makes people want to learn and listen. Of course, thats the other half of the equation. If people arent listening to what you have to share, then its not teaching; its babbling.

I feel incredibly blessed and energized to have been given the opportunity I now have. I also feel the awesome responsibility. I am presiding over one of the great experiments in business: finding ways to motivate and inspire a team of almost a million people spread around the world while keeping them moving ahead and rowing in the same direction.